Windows 8 Metro Internet Explorer 10 to be Adobe Flash free

Microsoft is set to release a Flash-free version of Internet Explorer 10 that will ship with the tablet based 'Metro style' iteration of Windows 8.

The plan is, according to Microsoft's building Windows 8 blog, to create a "plug in free" experience on tablets. Internet Explorer 10 will exist in two separate forms, either a Metro style app or desktop app, presumably hinting at the direction Microsoft will be taking with the majority of its new applications.

Desktop based versions will support all extensions and plugins but the tablet iteration will be "as HTML5 as possible". According to Microsoft the experience you get with Flash just doesn't suit tablet browsing.

Internet Explorer Team Leader Dean Hachamovitch explained that the decision to go HTML5-only also leads to better battery life and increased security, privacy and reliability.

"Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro style UI." Hachamovitch said.